Sam Edelman

Greetings from Tokyo! I am writing this from our hotel room as my husband remains transfixed to a week long sumo tournament that’s been showing on TV here. The food is amazing so far!

For the past few months, I have been on a quest to find some cheaper but still high quality shoes that are comfortable for work, as well as some sandals. For both of these I wanted to find more affordable options, because my work shoes and sandals both tend to get thrashed. I wear my work shoes for the majority of my time on the week days, and plus have the bad habit of kicking under tables whenever I get bored. Sandals after a year or two of walking around outside and on beach vacations also get a lot of wear and tear after a while. Warning…long post ahead!

After a lot of trial and error, I ended up with five pairs – and none of them are over $100. I have more detailed reviews below, but clockwise from the top left, here are the winners:

I first tried out the Corso Como “Del” pumps because they had great reviews on Nordstrom and plus they reminded me of my Louboutin “Simple” pumps. When I received these two pairs they did in fact really resemble the Simples – although a wee bit chunkier (and thus less pretty). Still, the quilted pair was on sale for $90 and the camel patent was just around that price point as well, after I price matched them with a Bloomingdales sale going on at the time.

These quilted versions of the Del by Corso Como were actually my favorite of the two, because they reminded me of a pair of Chanel pumps that I had been lusting over. These were basically around 15% of the price of the Chanels though, and were easier to pair with jeans, with a more reasonable heel. Very comfortable too, right out of the box!

I really liked the nude Corso Como “Delicious” versions as well, though I found them a wee bit more matronly than the quilted version, for some reason. Still, they are great for work and after a few wears, were very comfortable as well. I also usually end up messing up my expensive light colored patent shoes in one way or another, so I wanted to have a less expensive version that I could wear without fear. The beige color also blended in with my skin tone very well.

Moving onto sandals – theSam Edelman Gigi. I have long lusted after a pair of sandals by K. Jacques but the price point has always scared me off a bit. I finally was about to give in and was asking my friend for advice on her favorite K. Jacques pair when she said that she had put a pause on buying them after she discovered the Sam Edelman Gigis. I looked them up – almost 300 reviews on Zappos, an average of five stars – and 25% of the price of the K.Jacques versions! I bought two pairs and loved them both so much that I kept both. Very comfortable (after a wear or two) with some padding for comfort as well. I brought a pair here to Tokyo!

And finally…these Banana Republic Viv espadrilles were a pair that I just happened to stumble upon while in the store. I originally went to Banana looking for a separate pair (these super cute Vierra ones), but thought these were a great height for walking around during the day. The heel is about 1.5 inches and straps give a lot of support. The footbed also has a lot of padding. These were originally on the website but keep popping in and out of stock, so apologies if they aren’t available. They should be at stores though. I also brought these for walking around Japan.

Whew…that was a long post! If you’ve read through, congratulations and I hope this was helpful to some of you! What are some of your favorite shoes or sandals that are a great price as well?